NCRI Expression of Interest

NCRI Expression of Interest

The purpose of the NCRI is to improve health and quality of life by accelerating progress in cancer-related research, through collaboration.

We are a Partnership of research funders who believe that research is at the heart of driving improvements in prevention, treatment and care for people affected by cancer and the wider public.

Our success to date comes from our ability to identify where collaborative working adds value. We capitalise on opportunities, address challenges and strengthen the excellent work that our Partners and others do to improve the lives of people affected by cancer.

A key strength of the NCRI is our broad membership, with representation across both charity and government funders as well as across all four nations in the United Kingdom.

We involve many stakeholders in our work including people affected by cancer, industry, researchers, professional bodies, non-Partner research funders, government organisations and representatives from research initiatives. This ability to bring different perspectives to the table accelerates progress in research related to cancer, fosters innovation and enables us to tackle some of the biggest challenges that the cancer research community is facing.

Our goals

Together, the NCRI Partnership will:

Ensure a coordinated portfolio of research related to cancer.

Seize opportunities and address challenges in research relevant to cancer.

Continuously improve the quality and relevance of research related to cancer.

Accelerate the translation of cancer-related research into practice.

We want to hear your ideas

We want to hear your ideas for how the NCRI can further progress toward our goals set out in our five-year strategy. Your idea might be as simple as running a workshop to consider a specific issue, or as large as a five-year initiative. For examples of the type of work undertaken, visit our initiatives landing page.

If you have an idea you want the NCRI to consider please fill in the form below.

We want to see ideas:

That help the NCRI further progress against our goals.

Where it is clear the NCRI can add value above that which could be provided by other organisations.

That are related to cancer research.

Please note that, where appropriate, we would expect to see consumers (people affected by cancer) involved in the development and/or implementation of your idea.

Topics of interest

The NCRI is fundamentally concerned with topics relating to research (compared with other entities concerned with service development or the full spectrum of research and care). Topics also tend to be those where there is benefit from the work being independent of any one organisation, with multiple funders involved. Policy research, as related to supporting and improving cancer research, is also of interest.

The kind of challenges NCRI has looked at in its first 16 years have often been broad and underpinning. For instance, a shortfall of research activity relative to other areas (prevention, living with and beyond cancer and end of life care), a need to unite components of infrastructure (clinical trials units), a need for harmonisation between parts of the research community (biobanking, imaging), or reinvigorating academic engagement (radiotherapy, pathology, surgery).

What kind of topics are beyond the scope of NCRI?

NCRI doesn’t usually take on topics if another NCRI Partner or UK organisation is already taking a lead – though we may help to connect other Partners or groups into such work, or communicate it more widely.

Similarly, where other organisations or groups have niche expertise or a directly matching remit to the topic raised, for example the UKCRC Regulation & Governance subgroup, or the MHRA, we would expect to flag issues to them rather than take the topic on directly.

Ideas that are pieces of academic research would be expected to go through Partners’ usual funding channels.

How will we assess the ideas we receive?

The NCRI Executive team will firstly assess if your idea fits our strategic goals. Our Strategy Advisory Group will advise the NCRI Executive on which ideas to explore further based on potential impact of the idea and the value added by the NCRI undertaking any work. The NCRI Partners will then give a view on which ideas should be explored in more detail.

If your idea reaches this stage we will work with you to scope out your idea in more detail and create a project plan that can be assessed for a final decision. The process will vary from this point depending on the scale and cost of any work involved. We expect simpler ideas, such as for a workshop, to be approved more quickly than larger, complex or more expensive ideas.

Deadlines to submit an expression of interest

There are two periods each year to submit an expression of interest for an idea to be considered. The next deadline for submissions is the 7th March 2018.

Submit your idea

Salutation *

First Name *

Last Name *

Email *

Organisation

Job title

Briefly outline your idea making it clear the role of the NCRI in delivering any work (1500 characters) *

What would be the overall aim of any work undertaken? (500 characters) *

Why is action needed? What would the impact be if nothing is done?

What data or evidence is available to support this position, and what other information would we need to know before taking next steps?

If appropriate, how do you propose to involve consumers in the development and implementation of the idea?

What other organisations or initiatives are active in this area already, and who would need to be part of any new work?

Why do you feel the NCRI is best placed to deliver any work and what value could the NCRI add above that of another organisation?

Who would you suggest as source(s) of further information on this topic?